


And Back on Up

by Wonderlandleighleigh



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Kidfic, mashed up comics continuity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 00:12:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7954495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonderlandleighleigh/pseuds/Wonderlandleighleigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce Wayne. Grandfather.</p>
<p>A loose sequel to "It's All Downhill From Here."</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Back on Up

1.

Dick and Barbara adopt.

It’s important to them, and Bruce is nothing but proud, and also intensely afraid for them, and for the newborn they’ve decided to adopt from a young mother who isn’t prepared to raise a baby.

“I think you just don’t want to have to change any diapers,” Dick jokes as they perch on a roof one night. 

That’s not it at all, but he keeps it to himself. He knows better now, than to try and talk his children out of the things they’re dead set on, and Dick and Barbara have their sights set on parenthood.

So he goes with it. He empties out one of the many abandoned rooms in the manor, and paints it in mossy green. He commissions Kyle Raynor to stencil in the turtles, and Selina picks out the furniture.

Barbara doesn’t normally get sentimental, but she does when she sees the room. “Dammit, Bruce. This is amazing.” 

He just grins.

They bring home a baby girl, which is a surprise to everyone. 

Jason frowns, eyebrows knitting together. “Didn’t you say the doctor said it was a boy?” 

Dick shrugs, grinning ear to ear as he gazes down at the baby in his arms. “He was wrong.” 

“Did you pick another name?” Tim asks. 

Barbara beams. “We just changed her middle name. Guys, Bruce, Dad, meet James Mary Grayson.” 

Jim frowns deeply, but only for a moment, before the infant is settled in his arms, and then he can’t help himself. “Hi there, Jimmy.” 

It sticks. 

2\. 

Cassandra and Harper adopt too, but it’s not planned. It’s not planned at all. 

It’s pure chaos when the Joker blows up a building in the Bowery. Bruce does his best to save whoever he can. 

“Bluebird! Black Bat! Sit rep!” 

Over the comms, he hears screaming, and his eyes widen. “Sitrep now!” 

Harper’s voice snaps at him. “I am fucking busy, B! One of the survivors just went into labor, and the EMT’s can’t get to us!” 

He rushes to them, but by the time he gets there, it’s too late. 

The baby is fine. A little girl, with chocolaty skin and a head of dark hair, but the mother.... 

A week later, Cass and Harper step into the manor, having asked everyone to meet with them. 

“We couldn’t not,” Harper says, as Cassandra holds up the little baby carrier. 

Stephanie squeals. “I’m an aunt again! Yay!” 

“Miranda Stephanie Cain-Row,” Cassandra says. “She’s ours now.”

Bruce sighs softly, as Stephanie squeals even more, and looks up an Alfred. “We’ll need to empty out another room. I’m thinking of asking Kyle for an ocean theme.” 

3\. 

Jason and Maggie do things the old fashioned way, and Thomas Grant Todd is born during a tropical storm that moves up the coast unexpectedly. The lights in the hospital flicker, and Bruce sits in the waiting room with the rest of his family, as well as Maggie’s, watching them all, worrying a little. 

He’ll always worry about Jason, even when the boy seems to be happy. 

Bruce will always be worried. 

Clark walks in quickly, drenched, hair and glasses and raincoat soaked. “Am I very late?” he asks. 

“No,” Selina says, amused. “Maggie is still in labor. It might be a while.” 

“I brought cigars,” Clark tells them, as he pulls out a ruined box. ‘But I don’t think they’re any good now.” 

“We’ve got it covered,” Dick says. “Alfred has dry ones.” 

It’s a few hours later when Jason walks out slowly, looking a little dazed. 

Dick’s on his feet first. “Little Wing?” 

Jason swallows and rubs at his hair. “It’s uh...it’s a boy. I uh...we have a boy. Maggie had a boy. I just sorta...it’s a boy.” 

Steve Rogers grins and gets to his feet. “And he’s alright? And Maggie?” 

“Yeah, yeah, everybody’s...everybody’s good,” Jason says. “We’re all…” 

Steve pats his shoulder, grinning, before rushing off to see his daughter and grandson.

Bruce watches Jason carefully, as he stands there, his hands in the pockets of his jeans under his hospital gown. “Jay?” 

“I’m good,” Jason says quickly, sniffling a little. “Y’know, I’m...a dad now. I’m good.” 

Bruce steps up and pulls him into a hug, patting his back, holding on tightly, and Jason hugs him back. 

When Bruce pulls away, he grins at his second eldest. “So? A name?” 

“Thomas,” Jason nods. “Thomas Grant Todd.” 

Bruce takes a breath and nods, patting his son’s back again. 

4\. 

Duke laughs when Alfred asks them, and Bruce stops before he steps into the dining room for dinner, just listening.

“Oh no,” he says, sliding an arm around Claire’s waist. “No way. We already have three dogs. That’s enough for us.” 

5\. 

It’s sticky and boiling hot out the day Stephanie gives birth. 

Bruce steps into the little hospital room, flowers in hand, and hesitates at the doorway. 

Stephanie is sitting up in bed, baby in her arms, looking happy, and also just a little sad. Bart is passed out in the chair next to the bed, snoring softly, drooling just a little. 

She grins up at Bruce and nods her head, signalling him to come in. “Hi.” 

“Hello,” he says, standing at the foot of the bed. “I...I brought-” the waves the flowers. 

“Aww, thanks,” she says, still smiling. “I have a baby in my arms, y’know. Not the plague. You can come closer.” 

Bruce does, stepping over and pulling the chair over on the other side from Bart. “How are you feeling?” 

“Great,” she says. “Second time around for some reason didn’t feel as scary...maybe they just have better drugs here.” 

“Hnh.” 

“So,” Stephanie says. “This is Melanie Joan Allen. She is adorable, and perfect.” 

“She is,” Bruce agrees, gazing at the baby’s face. He looks at Stephanie, tilting his head. “Are you alright?” 

She takes a breath and nods. “I...am. I am. I’m so happy. But also...I’ve been thinking about the baby I gave up as a kid...the one I wasn’t ready for…” 

He nods. “I remember.” 

“I made the right choice then,” Stephanie nods back. “I wanted to keep her, but...I gave her a better shot and that was the right thing to do.” 

“And now?” Bruce asks. 

Stephanie shrugs. “Now...I just want to give this baby the life I couldn’t give the last one.” 

He watches her fight tears and take a breath, looking away from him, and Bruce sets the flowers on the bed, before reaching over and taking her hand. “Stephanie.” 

She looks at him, the tears still welling up, her thumb rubbing soft circles over Melanie’s little arm, as she keeps cradling the baby. 

“You’re going to be a great mother,” Bruce tells her, smiling at her warmly. 

She smiles back through her tears and pulls her hand from his just to wipe her eyes. “You wanna hold her?” 

He nods. 

6\. 

He’s on Justice League business when Tim’s baby girl is born, and while he’s grateful to Dick for keeping him updated, he’s still incredibly disappointed that he missed it.

It’s not hard to get into the nursery in Tim and Ramona’s home, and when he looks down at the little baby in the crib, he can’t help smiling. He tugs the gauntlets from his hands and carefully lifts her into his arms, as she coos at him. 

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Tim says softly from the doorway. He looks tired, and disheveled, but happy. 

“If they hadn’t needed my help so badly, I would have been here sooner,” Bruce grouses, but only a little. He finds it hard to be unhappy when he’s holding his newest grandchild. 

“Well, this is Martha Janet Drake,” Tim tells him, stepping over. “She’s three days old, and she weighs a whopping five-and-a-half pounds.” 

Bruce looks up at him worriedly. “That’s small, isn’t it?” 

Tim nods. “The Doctor says she’s healthy, and we’re being careful about diet. It was kind of a tough birth.” 

“Dick didn’t mention.” 

“He didn’t want you to rush back home when the League still needed you.” 

“You needed me,” Bruce says firmly. 

Tim grins a little. “Well, you’re here now,” he says. “And it looks like somebody is very attached to her grandfather.” 

Bruce looks down, and the little girl is gripping his cape. “Oh.” 

Tim chuckles. “Everybody’s okay, Bruce. I’m okay, Ramona is okay, and our little Marti is happy, and kinda tiny, but...she’s here, and she’s fine. That’s what matters.” 

“Marti?” 

“Alfred said that was your mom’s nickname. We really like it. I hope you don’t mind.” 

“No,” Bruce says softly, running his thumb over Marti’s cheek. “I don’t mind at all.” 

 

8.

Dick can’t stop smiling, and Bruce has to grin a little. 

“Wipe that ridiculous look off of your face, Grayson.” 

“You have to call me Dick now, because you named your daughter Grayson, and if you don’t stop calling me that, the poor thing is going to be very confused about who she is,” Dick says, and Damian glowers. 

But not too hard, because he’s holding his newborn baby in his arms.

“What?!” Dick cries. “Do you really wanna give your daughter an identity crisis?” 

It’s been a few years since Bruce welcomed a new grandchild, but the feeling of pride and fear and happiness hits him like a freight train.

“Grayson Sarah Wayne,” Selina beams, as she shifts the newborn into her arms. “How pretty she is.” 

“Of course she is,” Damian says absently as he watches Selina. “My genes are superior in every way. And Willow is the most beautiful woman on the planet.” 

“Oh, my darling girl, your father and grandfather are going to spoil you rotten,” Selina says, cuddling Grayson in her arms. 

“He named her after me,” Dick says. “My little baby itty bitty niece is named after me.” 

“Shut up Gray-Richard.” 

“Ha!” Dick cries.

Bruce snorts, amused, and glances at Talia, who is beaming proudly. 

“We are grandparents,” she says, smiling. 

Bruce nods. He doesn’t mention that he’s been one a few times over now. No need to spoil this for Talia, as Selina settles the baby in her arms. 

Bruce quirks a small, proud smile at Damian, who grins back, lifting an eyebrow. 

“Damian.” 

“Yes, Father?” 

“It’s too soon to be thinking about that.” 

“About what, Father?” 

“What’s going on now?” Dick asks, confused. 

“Damian is already plotting out little Grayson’s training. He wants her to be Robin.” 

Dick laughs softly. “Dami. Come on. She’s been out of the womb like an hour!” 

“I am merely thinking ahead,” Damian defends himself. “If Father had thought ahead, he wouldn’t have had need for such riffraff as you and Todd and Drake.” 

Dick just grins. “It’s nice to know age hasn’t quite dulled all of his brattiness.” 

Bruce just gives a soft laugh. 

8\. 

It’s a handful of years later when Bruce wanders in from patrol early on a winter morning close to Christmas. 

The manor is warm, and the smell of sweet cinnamon drifts through the house invitingly. At four in the morning, it’s still dark out, and once he’s changed and showered in the cave, and all of his logs are updated, Bruce heads up the stairs to join Selina in their bed.

“Ah. Master Bruce. Welcome home.” 

He nods. “Alfred.” 

“You had some visitors try and stay up for your return, you know,” Alfred says, amused. “Sadly, they did not succeed, but it was a valiant effort.” 

Bruce peeks into one of the sitting rooms, and there, on the couch, fast asleep, are Jimmy, Miranda, Tommy, Mel, Marti and Gray. 

He quirks a smile. “How long did they last?” 

“Midnight,” Alfred tells him. 

Bruce nods and steps into the room, taking the blankets set out on the coffee table and draping them over the children. 

Marti shifts a little, and Tommy gives a soft snore, but other than that, he gets no reaction from his gaggle of grandchildren. 

“Alfred? I’m thinking pancakes in the morning,” he says as he heads for the stairs. 

“Waffles,” Melanie’s voice mutters from the couch. 

Bruce snorts, and heads to bed.


End file.
